Meet The Little Sisters Of The Poor - This is What Sexual Expressionism Wants to Squash!

From Helen Alvare

I don’t want you to watch this video just because it will make both of us cry.

 I want you to watch it because it sums up visually we’ve been saying with words for months – that it’s beyond ridiculous for any government to believe that women care more about free birth control than they care about upholding the very meaning of life: to serve one another in love, in everything we do, at work and at home.

Here in this video are WOMEN religious, the Little Sisters of the Poor, doing incredible work for the elderly and poor … providing a loving presence, health care, even “home”… up to the moment their earthly lives end.  “In this home, nobody dies alone,” says the director of nursing.  We give the “look of love” to every single person, says the director, Sister Mary Bernard.

      

And this, THIS is what sexual expressionism wants to squash?

The Little Sisters of the Poor do not meet the Obama Administration’s criteria for a “religious institution.” So the sisters have a choice—go against their beliefs and obey the Mandate, or pay fines which would put them out of business. The HHS mandate, billed as a boon for women, would crush the work of these WOMEN, who are caring mostly for other women (given women’s longevity), as well as men.  Crush it why?  So Sandra Fluke and other women nowhere near the poverty line can get birth control for 20-50 dollars less per month than they’re paying now? (For poor women, the government provides free birth control via myriad programs. See this excerpt of a law article I wrote.)

What about the right to die with dignity? To be given the “look of love” to the very end?

Thankfully, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sued on behalf of the Little Sisters of the Poor. And it’s looking likely that the Supreme Court will soon take up the constitutional and statutory religious freedom claims raised by the mandate.

Last week, the Obama Administration asked the Supreme Court to review the 10^th Circuit’s injunction granted to Hobby Lobby, freeing them from any responsibility to comply with the Mandate. Separately, the Alliance Defending Freedom asked the Supreme Court to review a 3^rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision which ruled against Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Mennonite owned company in Pennsylvania. The conflict between Circuits regarding the religious freedom of for-profit companies makes it likely SCOTUS will take up one or both of the cases. Arguments would be heard during this next SCOTUS session and a ruling would be handed-down by late June 2014.

Remember in the meantime, when you have a chance before the Jan. 1, 2014 implementation date for the Mandate, Please:

1.  Contact your federal representatives about voting for H.R. 940; S. 1204. It’s a long shot, but if we expect our representatives to stick our necks out for us, we have to continue helping them too.

 Use this link to contact your federal representatives http://www.usa.gov

2. Send this video around to as many friends as you can;  and tell people that THIS is what’s at stake with the Mandate: free birth control versus the freedom to love and serve elderly and sick WOMEN and men the way religious social services do all over the United States. Tell them that WOMEN care more about the lives who have been entrusted to us, than we care about “free” birth control.

I know it’s been a long haul. Thanks for whatever you can do.

 The Little Sisters of the Poor are an international Roman Catholic Congregation of women Religious founded in 1839 by St. Jeanne Jugan. They operate homes in 31 countries, where they provide loving care for over 13,000 needy elderly persons.

Although the Little Sisters' homes perform a religious ministry of caring for the elderly poor, they do not fall within the government's narrow exemption for "religious employers." Accordingly, beginning on January 1, the Little Sisters will face IRS fines unless they violate their religion by hiring an insurer to provide their employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.


 For more information, visit http://www.becketfund.org/littlesisters/

Please contact your federal representatives and ask them to support  H.R. 940 and S. 1204.   Do it today and ask your family and friends to do the same.